My Heartwarming Interaction with AI(ɑɪ), a bright and curious burmese girl

" AI (spelled like ɑɪ), come let's play" I invited her to play Jenga with me after I finished my lunch. At first, I don't know her name but everyone at the hostel calls her AI. She is the daughter of one of the housekeepers at the hostel. In this place, most of the female housekeeper are from Myanmar and they are Burmese. From what I gathered, Ai's mother has been working at the place for seven years and Ai herself is a nine year old girl now.

Since I saw her almost everyday, one day I was curious about her education. " Is she not going to school?" I asked to the other older Burmese girl who is also a housekeeper in the place. " She went in Myanmmar but she can't go here in Thailand. Her mom didn't want it"

I was taken aback and filled with questions. But I toned down my curiosity because I know that Myanmmar isn't in a great condition politically and I am sure that it's a long complicated story for them. So, I do not want them to be offended nor feeling uncomfortable to share their story. But knowing that, I feel a pang of sadness as Ai should go to school instead of hanging around at the hostel and helping her mom once in a while.

Despite everything, Ai likes to interact with the guests. She didn't really speak much English other than Yes, No, and some " Oh my gosh" and " what is your name?". It took me a while to get to know her and by now, she is comfortable playing Jenga and I was teaching her how to play chess.

When we're playing, we speak mix in Thai and English but nothing further than yes, no, or can not. In Thai, all these are

Chai= yes
Mai= No
mai dai = can't

Then, when I showed her google translate, after weeks, I finally knew her name! It's Ai but Nong Ai.

When we played Jenga, I told her about some easy words like mosquitoes, colors, and things that are available at the hostel. With much curiosity and determination, she repeated what I said and was asking me, " what is this?", " what about that?" by showing me the things and I told her in English and she repeated it.

Some of the guests at the hostel were smiling and heartily laughed when AI speaks the English word out loud.

" She'll be an expert within days" The Spanish guy across the table chimed in and we laughed.

Then when the moon was out, I pointed up and told her, " That is the moon"

" moon moon" AI repeated what I said with much enthusiasm.

I told Ai to wait and I fetched my camera. When I got back to the common room, I showed her the moon picture.

" wow, moon" she said and smiled.

Then, I handed her my camera and was teaching her how to use it. She was taking my pictures and was happy with the result. She was indeed a quick learner. Then I taught her how to adjust the zooming and while she was amazed, she also tried it herself. We stopped taking pictures because I was running out of battery and eventually it was time for AI to prepare for bed and her mom was waiting for her.

We bid good bye and I told her Thank you while she also said, ขอบคุณมาก which in romanized would be khopkun Mak (K̄hxbkhuṇ māk).

It was such a nice interaction that despite things haven't been going well in my life, it was the moment and experience that brought joys to me and it is filling my heart. I still hope that AI could go to school in Thailand and I am sure that with proper education and chances, she's such a bright girl and has a life ahead of her. I definitely wish for a brighter future for her.